16-Year-Old Pregnant Victim Of Boko Haram Reveals What She Tells People Who Threatens To Kill Her Baby If She Births A Boy

We have read many stories from young girls who have escaped boko haram captivity, and each is as heartbreaking as the others. Sadly, the trauma doesn’t end with their rescue, for many of them the impact of the ordeal will stay with them for a lifetime.

A 16-year old Fatimah from Yola, who is one of the victims of the group recounted her ordeal in the hands of the group. In a chat with VICE, Fatimah, who is pregnant for one of her abductors said she had been threatened that the child would be killed if it was a boy.

SHE SAID,

My father was killed by Boko Haram. Of all my relatives, only three remain.

They took all the women to a room and locked us up. They said anyone who did not want to get married will be killed. The men just came and picked a woman to be their wife.

If you see a woman carrying a bomb, it’s not by choice, it is because of her husband.

As I am now, some are disgusted by me. People say, “she carries a pregnancy for Boko Haram.” But all I tell them is, I am determined to give birth to this child. I will hold the baby like my mother held me.

Now that I am without a father and all of my uncles are dead and now I should kill an innocent child, well there will be no difference between me and those people.

When I heard I was giving birth to a boy, my heart skipped a beat. If I return home and deliver a baby boy, I would always be restless. I was told if I deliver a boy, he would be killed.”

GRAPHIC: 16-year-old Zainab Isah, impregnated while being held as a prisoner by Boko Haram talks about her pregnancy and struggles. pic.twitter.com/k3BVT0ySYD

The documentary features an interview with President Muhammadu Buhari speaking about how Boko Haram started. He explained that it became deadly to seek for justice after the group’s leader Mohammed Yusuf was killed in 2009.

One of our favourite quotes at Woman.NG is a line from Emeli Sande’s Read All About It; “If you’ve got the heart of a lion, why let your voice be tamed?”
This has inspired us to publish Nigerian women’s take on about everything. From conceiving a child to burying an old loved one and every life experience in between them - Nigerian women’s stories, opinions, issues, debates, advice, news etc. Read More >>

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